Photos by Francisco Javier Ventosa @muyfrancescoli
Select, compete, win.
For some, that’s all there is. But there is more. There is the idea of justice, the idea of beauty, the idea that each person contributes something unique and special to the world, and the conviction that we are all subjects of law, beyond where we were born. Today, June 20, World Refugee Day, we, the Dragons of Lavapiés, declare:
-That we are proud and responsible to fulfill the commitment we made at the Global Compact on Refugees in Geneva in October 2023 (which we attended as members of the FARE Network) to promote and offer a safe space, based on play and sport, for refugees. During this year, we have trained two senior men’s 11-a-side football teams in the municipal and federated leagues and have created a new youth team (around 50 players). We have trained Iraqi, Malian, Venezuelan, Sahrawi, Guinean, Moroccan players… who have come from organizations that work on their integration such as Diagrama, CEAR, Red Cross… We have offered them two weekly training sessions in 11-a-side football on the Retiro and Orcasur fields and a match on weekends.
-That just as we have been able to create a safe space in training, the same has not happened in the federated competition, where we have had to face racism in the stands and also on the field. Even so, and with the support of the players, we believe that this is the way to truly participate in society, to make the problems that exist visible and thus be able to address them and change them.
-That politics has a great influence on what happens on and off the field. That hate speeches and also systemic racism are the cause of many of the conflicts on the field.
-That we are part of the Unity project, which receives support from the European Migration, Integration and Asylum Fund and is led by Common Goal and the UEFA Foundation for Children. And that thanks to this project and the work of Fútbol Más we celebrated a day of football and refuge at the Moscardó facilities on June 15th. UNHCR collaborated on this day, as did the Spanish Football Federation. It was a day to show the potential of sport and people to unite and celebrate their diversity. It was also a day to demand respect and anti-racism. We were joined by the footballer Thaylor Lubanzadio Aldama, of Basque and Angolan origin. Thaylor has been a professional since his youth days, when he signed for Celta de Vigo. He has played for many teams and has been with Hibernians in Malta for a few seasons now. In 2017 in Spain, wearing the Real Unión shirt, he was subjected to racist insults in front of the referee, who not only ignored them but also fined him 600 euros and several games without playing. Thaylor drove from his home in Bilbao last Saturday to be with us at 9 am. He played with the children all morning and posed for every photo that was requested. He also answered the questions they asked him: «Why aren’t you on the national team?» they said. «I’m not that good,» he replied, smiling. There are many teams in life, and Thaylor is on the team of those who have decided to commit themselves and fight so that no one has to suffer situations of racism, which is why he is an ambassador of another European project in which LaLiga also participates: the SCORE project.
-That in life and in football you need courage and activism, and that is why, as an inspiration, we carry the banner of Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the Mexico Olympic Games and we asked Thaylor to take a photo with Asha Ismail, the president of Save a Girl, Save a Generation who fights against female genital mutilation and with Babow Jallow, a member of our board, president of the Dragons of Keur Babow Ndiity and the Union of Hawkers. And because we feel European and we want to participate in the construction of a Europe of rights, today we will also be with our neighborhood and the Museo Situado in the Plaza del Reina Sofía at seven o’clock in the afternoon to denounce that we want a Europe where human rights are for everyone.
